Reviews

Driver: Parallel Lines

While we're all excited about what's been done right, a quick congratulatory message to whoever picked the music selections, especially in the 1978 section of the game. There's enough R&B and funk to educate your kid brother on which song hooks current rappers have stolen from, and even Peaches by The Stranglers makes an appearance, so you can inform the denizens of Hot Topic on what real punk sounds like. It's as if Guy Ritchie was choosing the song selections prior to marrying his anti-muse, Madonna.

After years of preening, the driving controls (once you get used to the too-slippery handbrake) and physics are second-to-none; Reflections knows how to control cars better than anyone else in this genre. There's nothing new here; "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" seems to be the mantra this time. A shame then, that there were actually bits that needed tinkering with: Wilder crashes still break the physics engine, and there's a wide variety of glitches (such as your character blending into vehicles and incorrect mid-air animations on most pedestrians). Thankfully, much more scenery (such as the dreaded unbreakable lampposts of Driv3r) is destructible except at low speeds, which is annoying when you've been fishtailed into a refuse-filled alley by an over-zealous cop. Generally though, this is the pinnacle of perambulator-based action in a living world environment.

Taking Liberties in the City

It's a shame the on-foot sections still suck. A terrible targeting system married to horrific walking animations (literally, it looks like the characters don't know where they're going in the in-game cutscenes) merge with design problems, like different controls for in-game and on-foot firing. If you want to see great strides backwards in gun combat, check out Parallel Lines' travesty of aiming at car tires using a free-look targeting system so imprecise you'll threaten all manner of unspeakable acts at your television. Be thankful for small mercies however; there are far fewer on-foot shenanigans this time around.

Then to the missions. Ah yes, the crux of any living world game. And this is where those expecting mediocrity are to be rewarded: Try as I might, I wasn't able to find a single mission that hasn't been done before. Fans of the genre won't mind this. In fact, they'll be pissed reviewers are mentioning this fact when any first-person shooter is essentially the same game as Doom, and any 3D fighter smacks of Virtua Fighter. But living world games are held to a higher standard because it takes so damn long to get anywhere, and heading to a nightclub to pick up a cash drop while rival gangsters attempt to waylay you is exactly the same gameplay we've seen countless times in the past five years.

Mini-game Ha Ha

As for the mini-games, they're exactly what you'd expect. Can you drive fares around town? Yes. How about stealing cars and taking them back to a chop-shop? Yep. What about driving around an airport through giant purple halo checkpoints within a time limit for cash? You betcha. Then there's the systematic purchasing of houses in a neighborhood, keeping your shopkeepers safe, and constructing new businesses across town in a melding of Sim City and GTA. Then there's the GP races which get difficult and repetitious and show the limits of the game's driving engine. Look, is it too much to ask that there be thousands more collectibles to find, and that these unlock new neighborhoods, or an underground sewage system, or something? Spend less time on your CG cinemas, and more time handing out the fun in stunt-filled packages next time.
There's a teeny drop of innovation, as you can tinker with your vehicle this time (which serves to unlock secrets if you drive the car for an obscene number of miles), adding bits and pieces; but when there's a just-as-cool car around the corner to snag for free, it becomes a little pointless. As does restarting during a mission, which is far better than respawning miles away outside a hospital, but it does take all the trepidation out of a mission, knowing you're able to try again with full health almost immediately.